The Portland Winterhawks answered a couple of questions in their 3-0 win against the Vancouver Giants on Saturday.

Portland’s power play is fine, thank you very much; and goaltender Brendan Burke has settled in nicely early in the playoffs, backstopping his first postseason shutout before a sold-out crowd of 10,947 fans at the Moda Center.

The Hawks head to Vancouver with a 2-0 lead in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. They play Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pacific Coliseum.

Burke backed up Mac Carruth last season and played during Portland's Memorial Cup campaign, but never got a start.

“Personal stats always feel good, but that’s really not the point,” Burke, who stopped all 15 of Vancouver’s shots, said. “I think the best thing to take out of this game is how well we played defensively, and how little we really gave them.

"I had to make a couple of saves, but I really wasn’t relied on too much today.”

After going 0-for-5 on the power play in Friday’s 4-3 win, Portland converted on two of its first three chances with a man advantage on Saturday before a sold-out crowd of 10,947 at the Moda Center and finished 2-for-9 in the game.

“I thought we were real businesslike tonight,” Portland coach and general manager Mike Johnston said. “Our power play responded tonight with more action, with more quality scoring chances. Those are all positives.”

The Hawks, who led the league during the regular season in power-play percentage (27.5 percent), didn’t waste their first opportunity.

Portland took a 1-0 lead at the 16-minute mark in the first period while Giants’ left wing Cain Franson was serving two minutes for kneeing. Portland’s Nic Petan — on his 19th birthday — ripped a slap shot off Oliver Bjorkstrand’s cross-ice pass, beating Vancover goaltender Payton Lee.

On a second period power play, Hawks captain Taylor Leier gathered a long pass from Derrick Pouliot and skated in on a breakaway, beating Lee 1-on-1 to give Portland a 3-0 lead at 7:37.

“We talked about it. He said, ‘make sure you’re ready,’ and I said ‘I’ll tap my stick,” Leier said. “The one time, I had a lot of speed and he found me, and it worked out.”

Between those two goals, Alex Schoenborn, the right wing on Portland’s third line, scored at 5:57 off assists from center Dominic Turgeon and left wing Keegan Iverson.

The best-of-seven series moves to Vancouver, where Portland plays the Giants at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday at Pacific Center.

“Like everything else in a playoff series, you want to be building on what you’re doing,” Johnston said. “We’ve got to get better in a few areas.”